As good as ever, returning St-Pierre defeats Condit at UFC 154

Dave Deibert, Postmedia News11.18.2012

Canadian contender Georges St-Pierre, left, is announced as the winner in the fight against welterweight champion Carlos Condit, right, of the U.S. during their Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Sunday.Dario Ayala
/ The Gazette

Canadian contender Georges St-Pierre, bottom, fights with welterweight champion Carlos Condit, top, of the U.S. during their Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Sunday.Dario Ayala
/ The Gazette

Georges St-Pierre speaks at a press conference in Montreal on Nov. 14, ahead of his UFC 154 title fight against Carlos Condit in Montreal on Saturday.The Canadian Press
/ The StarPhoenix

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MONTREAL – For months, Georges St-Pierre heard the questions. He needed just 25 minutes to provide the answers.

Would the Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight king be the same after knee surgery? Had he lost his desire? Would ring rust affect him? Would he buckle under the pressure of a hometown return? With a pristine performance, St-Pierre showed the fighting world that he’s as good as ever. Back in UFC’s octagon for the first time since April 2011, St-Pierre picked up where he left off, defending his title for the seventh straight time dating back to 2008 with a unanimous decision over interim champion Carlos Condit in front of a capacity crowd Saturday night at Bell Centre.

It was a moment St-Pierre had imagined countless times as he prepared for his comeback.

“The feel of the octagon, the feeling of the ground, the crowd, everything. I missed that a lot,” said St-Pierre (23-2), who was awarded judges scores of 50-45, 50-45 and 49-46.

“A lot of people talk about ring rust. I definitely know what it is now. Credit to Carlos. He gave me my toughest fight. An amazing martial artist.”

Saturday’s bout was first scheduled for last October before minor knee injury to St-Pierre delayed it until February. But after St-Pierre nemesis Nick Diaz beat BJ Penn and called out St-Pierre, going so far as to question whether St-Pierre was even hurt, GSP immediately insisted he fight Diaz in February.

Before that could happen, though, St-Pierre suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament last December. As a result, Condit faced and defeated Diaz for the interim title and the right to face St-Pierre.

St-Pierre was greeted with one of the loudest ovations in UFC history. Reporters on press row, 10 feet from the cage, were barely able to hear ring announcer Bruce Buffer introduce the champion.

The first round was the St-Pierre of old, getting Condit down with his first takedown attempt and eventually opening up his right eye with a sharp left elbow. The second round was more of the same, with St-Pierre getting the better of the stand-up before taking Condit back down. Condit scored from his back, though, landing elbows, punches and bruising up the champ.

Condit had his best chance early in the third, when he caught St-Pierre with a high left kick and rocked the champion. In an instant, the crowd of 17,249 (which paid a live gate of $3.143 million) went from cheering St-Pierre’s every move to pleading for him to survive.

Condit worked hard for a finish, but St-Pierre bought enough time to recover and spent the last two-plus minutes of the round on top after yet another takedown.

“I didn’t see the kick. I think in the round before this one, I got punched in the eyes and my eye was a little blurry. I didn’t see the kick,” said St-Pierre. “What you don’t see, that’s what dangerous.”

Condit felt like that was his moment to finish the champion.

“I had him pretty close,” said Condit (28-6), adding that he felt like if he could have gotten through with one barrage while St-Pierre was fallen, “I might have gotten the stoppage.”

St-Pierre continued his onslaught in the fourth and fifth, each round wasting no time in using the best wrestling in MMA to again take Condit to the mat. As the clock ticked down, the thousands stood and roared, their conquering hero victorious.

“I had fun. I had a blast out there,” said St-Pierre, grinning at the post-fight press conference despite his face being swollen, bruised and discoloured.

The Brazilian legend has held the 185-pound title since 2006, going 16-0 since his UFC debut that year. A catchweight bout between arguably the two best to ever compete in the octagon has been talked about for years, but now seems close to becoming a reality.

Silva, who was cageside at UFC 154, said prior to the event that he was excited about the prospect of facing St-Pierre at a catchweight of 177 or 178 pounds.

“For a long time, people talked ‘Anderson and Georges St-Pierre, Anderson and Georges St-Pierre.’ (Lately), people have talked, ‘Anderson and Jon Jones, Anderson and Jon Jones.’ My first goal is the Georges St-Pierre fight, the superfight. Then, maybe Jon Jones,” said Silva.

UFC president Dana White said he would give St-Pierre 10 days or two weeks to rest and recover before beginning discussions about a match versus Silva. If it comes together, says White, he’d be looking at an event in May at either Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Rogers Centre in Toronto or a soccer stadium in Brazil. The pay-per-view would be expected to shatter all existing UFC pay-per-view records.

“Right now I was focusing on Carlos Condit 100 per cent,” said St-Pierre.

“I need to take some vacation and think about to see about my career and make my best choice for myself and my fans … We’ll see what’s going to happen.”

In other pay-per-view bouts:

* Johny Hendricks has needed less than one minute over two fights to show that he belongs in the welterweight title mix.

After a stunning 12-second knockout of Jon Fitch last December, Hendricks showed he packs a powerful punch again on Saturday in a co-main event that may have determined the next No. 1 contender.

Hendricks (14-1) landed a straight left hand that dropped Martin Kampmann (20-6) flat before finishing him with one more left hand on the mat after just 46 seconds of their welterweight bout. It was a near-duplicate of the left that finished Fitch.

* Montreal’s Francis Carmont (20-7) was awarded a split decision over Tom Lawlor (8-5) in a middleweight match. All three judges scored the match 29-28.

* Rafael dos Anjos (18-6) made the most of his last-minute pay-per-view opportunity, dominating Woodbridge, Ont. native Mark Bocek (11-5) via unanimous decision in a lightweight bout. All three judges scored it 30-27 in a bout that got pumped up the card after the middleweight match between Calgary’s Nick Ring (13-1) and Costa Philippou (12-2, 1 NC) was cancelled Saturday morning. Ring fell ill and did not receive doctor’s clearance to compete.

* Nineteen months ago, Thamesford, Ont.’s Mark Hominick (20-12) was fighting for a UFC title. On Saturday night he may have been fighting for his job. Alas, the popular and always-entertaining Canadian dropped his fourth-straight bout in the octagon, falling to Pablo Garza (13-3) via unanimous decision in a featherweight bout. The judges scored the contest 29-27, 30-26 and 29-28.

In preliminary bouts:

* In the most bizarre finish of the night, Montreal’s Patrick Cote (19-8) was awarded a disqualification victory over Alessio Sakara (19-10, 1 NC) after just 1:26 of their middleweight bout.

Each fighter was throwing leather in the slugfest when Sakara dropped Cote. But with Cote on his knees and Sakara looking to finish, he landed eight shots to the back of Cote’s head – all of which were illegal. To the fans, it appeared at first that referee Dan Mirgliata stopped the bout for a Sakara TKO victory, drawing rabid boos from the thousands in attendance. But when the decision was announced, Cote was in fact awarded a DQ victory.

* Wasting little time, Cyrille Diabate (20-8-3) knocked around Chad Griggs (11-3) when they were standing and choked him out when they were on the mat, getting a submission victory in just 2:21 of a light heavyweight contest.

* Counterattacking beautifully for three rounds, Montreal’s John Makdessi (10-2) beat popular London, Ont. native Sam Stout (19-8-1) via unanimous decision in a high-energy lightweight match. Two judges scored the bout 30-27 while the third had it 29-28.

*Oshawa, Ont.’s Antonio Carvalho (15-5) landed an endless stream of leg kicks that left Rodrigo Damm (10-6) with thighs purple and swollen, and also on the losing end of a split decision in a featherweight contest. All three judges scored the match 29-28, with two giving the nod to Carvalho.

* Matt Riddle (7-3, 1 NC) continues to make a name for himself in the welterweight division, putting in work to earn a unanimous decision over crafty John Maguire (18-5) in a welterweight bout.

Two judges scored the match 30-27, while the third had it 29-28. Riddle is a rarity, as each of his 11 pro fights have come in UFC. He earned his way into the company via the reality-TV show The Ultimate Fighter.

* In slick fashion, Montreal’s Ivan Menjivar (25-9) improved to 4-1 in UFC, locking in an armbar to submit Azamat Gashimov (10-2) at 2:44 of the first round in a bantamweight match. Menjivar got a hold of Gashimov’s left arm and dropped to his belly, inverting and cranking Gashimov’s arm, forcing an instant tapout.

FIGHT NOTES: After three cards in Canada in 2012, UFC is scheduled to return to Montreal on March 16, 2013 and Toronto on Sept. 21. According to UFC director of Canadian operations Tom Wright, two other events are expected to take place in Canada in 2013, though the dates and locations have not been announced … Four fighters received $70,000 bonus cheques at UFC 154: St-Pierre and Condit for fight of the night, Hendricks for knockout of the night, and Menjivar for submission of the night.

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